VUDU's been doing its darnedest of late to keep up with the slew of rivals looking to steal away every piece of market share they can, and a recent report over at CEPro sheds a little light onto how the company plans to both stay afloat and take off. As with most every other outfit, VUDU has also suffered through a few rounds of layoffs. Currently, the company employs about 50, which is down from a high of around 110. Co-founder Tony Miranz seems pretty optimistic about the future, though, noting that the outfit is being "bombarded with inquiries" from potential partners. Speaking of which, he also asserted that VUDU was -- at its heart -- a software company, and thus it was currently looking to integrate its top-shelf UI and movie delivery network into HDTVs, DVD / Blu-ray players and other standalone boxes. It's tough to say how such a shift would affect the firm. On one hand, you've got CinemaNow barely breathing, while Netflix has managed to execute this plan to perfection. Go on VUDU, roll the dice -- we'll be watching.

[Thanks, Ben]

Hey Sony -- we know that experiencing your first annual operating loss in 14 years calls for drastic measures, but this is bordering on downright rash. Barely a month after announcing that 16,000 employees would be axed, Sony has now revealed plans to close one of its two television plants in Japan and rid itself of 2,000 domestic full-time jobs as it attempts to "revive its electronics business." Of note, it's stated that those 2,000 -- which seem to be a part of the previously mentioned 16,000 figure -- will be shed via "early retirement and other programs." Just think what a 40-inch XEL-1 would do for business. No, seriously Sony, just think.

[Image courtesy of DigitalWorldTokyo]

It's not pulling a Sony or anything, but even Sharp has been unable to absorb the downturn in flat-panel demand. We already knew that the firm was looking to scale back production by as much as 10% from the middle of this month, and our deductive reasoning skills are leading us to believe that this is the cutback we've been expecting. The outfit will be closing down two LCD panel production lines in Japan in order to "move production to a newer and more cost-efficient plant as the global downturn hits demand for electronic goods." Along with the closings will come 380 job cuts -- all temporary workers -- which will presumably be sent home when the lines halt for the final time in January.